Editor's note: The following notice was reprinted
with permission from Forresters.

Our August 2013 News item: "EPO divisional
deadline U-turn in the offing…" seems prescient.  We now learn that the EPO has made formal
proposals to remove the current two-year time limit for filing
divisionals.

Instead, the EPO proposes that applicants can file
divisionals (and divisionals from divisionals) for as long as the original
application is pending.  The EPO also wants to increase the filing fee for
second and subsequent generation divisionals.

The proposals aim for 1 April 2014 to formulate and
introduce appropriate amended rules.  Under the current proposals, applicants
with a pending application (not granted, refused or abandoned) on 1 April 2014,
can use it as the basis for a divisional application, even if the current two
year limit has expired.

We recommend that you identify currently pending European
patent applications where the divisional due date has expired, or will do
before 1 April 2014.  If you are still
interested in filing a divisional from any of these, you should slow prosecution
as much as you can.  There are techniques
enabling you to draw out EPO procedures, and we would be pleased to advise you
on those.